The Fourth Wall
by Celestial Moonlight Blade
Summary: Right before the Knight Bus picks him up, Harry pulls a strange girl out of a car wreck. After he talks to her for a little, he comes to a conclusion - she's absolutely insane. For one thing, she insists that he's a fictional character in a book series. But when some of the things she predicts come true, Harry has to decide who and what he believes in or risk loosing everything.
1. Chapter 1

**The Fourth Wall**

**Okay, I just wanted to try this for the sake of it! Please, no one kill me, I know it's a story you've seen a million times but I _really _want to try it! I do not own Harry Potter**

**Chapter 1**

The music from the radio was a calming frequency. The speakers gently played the call of the violin, a soothing gesture against the silence and darkness of the ride. Snowflakes lashed against the car windows, which were covered with frost and fingerprints. The car was rushing along a painfully straight stretch of road, the driver hadn't turned the steering wheel more than ten degrees in the last thirty minutes. They weren't going very fast at the moment; the icy conditions of the road would make such a choice a deadly one. The scraping of the windshield wipers seemed louder than it actually was, due to the silence in the car.

No one had spoken. The driver was staring out at the road, occasionally looking in the review mirror at the backseat. The passenger saw his eyes watching her and gazed down at her feet. Her breath came out in clouds; even with the heater on the car wasn't that warm. It was one of the coldest days either person had experienced.

The passenger raised a hand and brushed the tears away from her eyes, which felt like ice against her cheeks. The white cord of her headphones shifted as her arm knocked against them. The darkness around her threatened to suffocate her; the only light came from the headlights on the road and from her phone. She had wanted to read her favourite books, but it was too dark, so they remained in a bag by her feet.

Rock music rattled her eardrums; she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of doing anything for him, even though she loved Vanessa Mae. The only problem was that they had been driving for hours, and her phone was about to run out of battery.

She bit into her lip, her eyes still on her boots. The trunk rattled as they turned a corner. The wind roared around the window. The weather display would be dazzling if she had been inclined to look at it.

For a single second, she thought about undoing her seat belt and jumping out of the car and into the snow drifts that were piled along the side of the road. Even that seemed preferable than following the driver to where he wanted to go. The only thing that stopped her was the fact that at this speed, and with the shape of the slope, the fall would at least break a dozen bones if not kill her.

If her anger towards the driver could manifest it would be colder than the air outside. She didn't say a word but her silence spoke louder than anything she could say. She had ignored any attempts at conversation and would continue to do so until her phone finally went dead. She had nothing to say to him.

The night was completely starless, and as unwelcoming as a bad dream. If only it had been just that. But you could wake up from a dream; she couldn't see any way she could escape this.

The driver muttered something about these being 'old roads', before glancing back at her again. She still wasn't looking at him. He sighed. Whether it was because he was frustrated that she wasn't seeing things his way or because he was hurt by her silence, he couldn't tell.

She knew he'd been labouring under the delusion that he'd been doing what was best for her. Well, after the court had come to its decision, the police had had to search the entire city of Chicago for two weeks before they finally found her. And when he had approached her, she'd thrown a brick at him.

It had fallen short – a real pity, as far as she was concerned – and he'd still had the right to take her away from her mother and away from the world she knew.

"Emily?"

She ignored him. Her phone flashed a warning before going black, the noise of her music cutting out. She said a word she'd picked up from the twelve graders and put her phone away.

"Emily. Why are you doing this?"

She looked at the rear view mirror, bright green eyes flashing with bitter scorn before they returned their attention to her window.

The driver flinched slightly and uttered a noise of frustration. Was he really so caught up in his own world he couldn't comprehend why she was angry with him? That was pathetic. She'd seen sixth graders with more emotional maturity.

"This is what's best. For me. For you. For us."

And that would make him the sixth person who'd fed her _that_ line. She didn't believe it the last few times she'd heard it and she didn't believe it now. It was so empty and full of lies that it made her sick to have to listen to it constantly. There was no 'us', if she had any say in anything she would have had nothing to do with him. Of course, she didn't.

She rolled her eyes, and began to trace pictures on the frosted window. For a second, she thought she saw wolves in the woods, but they were gone too quickly for her to be sure.

She paused as her fingers chilled, and saw that she had drawn angel's wings on her window.

"Bullshit."

Her voice cut the silence like a knife; the single word had enough hate in it for a monologue.

"You know I don't believe that. This was about _you _and your _ego. S_o you can stop _lying _to me."

She hadn't realized she could talk like that; she'd always had a temper on her, but she'd never been so calculated in tearing at someone. She hadn't been this angry in a long time.

There was a brilliant flash outside the right window. The passanger looked out her other window to see bright, glowing golden light the sky.

"That the hell-?" The diver muttered.

He didn't get any further. It was like they had driven straight into a brick wall, the force of it slamming the passanger's head against her window, knocking her out cold. The world around them twisted and bent, and the car tore in half, the driver side skidding down the road while the passanger fell into the rift.

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

Harry collapsed against a wall on Magnolia Crescent, exhausted from dragging his trunk the entire

way. He sat quite still, trying to ease the frantic thumping of his heart, even while anger boiled inside him. How dare Aunt Marge talk about his mother that way. She had no idea what she had done for him; she was the most selfless person he'd ever heard of.

But after ten minutes in the dark and winding streets, he was starting to panic. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he hadn't been in a worse fix. (well, if you didn't count the basilisk anyway). He was stranded alone, and he'd done magic that would certainly get him in trouble with the Ministry.

The thought of being expelled from Hogwarts made his heart twist with pain. The memories of the castle, and of his two best friends Hermione and Ron, seemed to taunt him from behind his eyelids, because how could he possibly see them again if he was expelled?

What would happen to him, anyway? The Dursleys didn't want him, and at this point an orphanage really would be preferable to going back to that house, where it was clear that he was unloved and unwanted. This made him think longingly of the Burrow, where the Weasleys had welcomed him and shown him true affection; they may be poor in money but they were rich in every way that mattered to him.

It was after this thought went by that he saw the lights in the sky. There was a brilliant flash, and golden lights started to dance across the stars, like veins against a black backdrop.

Harry looked up, amazed. It looked like the northern lights, but those were never seen in Britain. Maybe it was a magic trick.

That wasn't the end of the strangeness. Right before Harry's eyes, the world around the corner at the nearest street light seemed to..._twist. _There was a harsh flash, and a rumbling noise, and suddenly half a car was dropped on the street.

Harry jumped to his feet, heart pounding. And as suddenly as it started, the strange phenomenon was over, leaving the half a car behind.

Cautiously, Harry approached the battered vehicle. Strangely, there was ice and snow all over it, although he knew it hadn't been snowing anywhere in Britain – it was still September, after all. It looked like it had been sawed in half by some incredible force. Harry looked up and around, but he couldn't see the other half anywhere.

It wasn't a model he had seen before; a few steps closer and he could read the license plate. _Ford, 2003. _

Harry blinked, disoriented, and read it again. _2003. _That was impossible. That...it was 1994. That was 9 years from now. It had to be a trick, or some sort of mistake...yeah, mistakes happened sometimes.

Harry stepped around the car doors, peering into a window. It was then, with a start, that he saw past the thin layer of frost and saw a young girl inside. She wasn't moving.

Harry gave the door a mighty yank, but it was still locked. He glanced at his wand; he'd already done serious magic so a little more couldn't possibly hurt him. "Alohamora!" He said, pointing it at the lock. The door sprang open.

Quickly, Harry reached inside and took the girl in his arms – she was small, and surprisingly light. He pulled her out of the wreck and, with a grunt of effort, carried her over to a nearby bench. There he looked her over worriedly. She was thin with messy black hair and tanned skin, though it was cool to the touch, as if she'd just stepped out of a fridge. She was wearing clothes Harry hadn't seen before – a heavy black trench coat, a coat with a hood, long black jeans, boots. Two little white buds attached to thin wires were hanging out of one of the coat pockets.

Carefully, Harry reached out and turned her head to the side. There was no blood anywhere, which caused him to sigh in relief. That meant her skull wasn't broken. Her neck?

He put two fingers on her neck and relaxed when he felt a slow but steady pulse under them. She was still alive.

Harry looked back at the car with no small amount of bewilderment. Where had she come from? Nothing about this wreck made sense. He walked back over to the car, his current situation driven to the back of his mind. There was a backpack in the car, miraculously undamaged, and probably belonging to her. Harry reached in and pulled it out. It was heavy, making him wonder what she'd put in it.

A groan. Harry turned on his heels to see the strange girl waking up. She pushed herself into a sitting position with her hands, wincing a bit. She ran her fingers through her dark hair and shook her head.

"Damn...what just happened?"

"Hello?" Harry asked, walking back over to her and putting her bag down by the bench. "Are you alright? That was an awful crash."

"Wazzat...car...light..." The girl blinked rapidly several times, trying to take in her surroundings. "What...where..."

Harry looked at her and wished he had some water to offer her, but he hadn't brought any. He was briefly reminded of the fix he was in by that, but his attention remained on the victim.

The girl shook her head again and turned to look at him. Her eyes were a bright blue, though there were somewhat clouded over. "Zz...where am I?"

"Uh, you're on Magnolia Crescent, right now." Harry said, slightly confused by the question. Did she have a mild concussion? Why wouldn't she know that? "How do you feel? Should I call an ambulance?"

"...Head's spinning...but I think I'll be alright," The girl said woozily, swinging her thick boots off the bench and onto the ground.

"You sure?" Harry asked. The car had been all but ripped apart; it would have been nothing short of a miracle for her to have escaped uninjured. But, yes, she seemed to be alright, and at least coherent, though she wasn't making a whole lot of sense. But that was to be expected after being knocked unconscious, right?

The girl nodded. "Ugh...whoa...okay, where's my da- I mean, where's my driver?" She looked around, clearly having expected him to be hanging right over her.

Harry didn't ask why she called him her driver instead of her dad. It wasn't his business, although it struck him as strange. Instead he responded honestly, "I don't know. I've only seen this half of your car – do you have any idea what hit you?"

The girl's eyes widened, and she turned her back enough to scan the surrounding area, seeing as much as she could in the late evening. "What...? I don't know. It was so weird – there was a light, and then this ripping sound, and then we hit something...couldn't see a damn thing, it was so dark out...stupid of him, should have waited until morning..."

Harry reached out worriedly when she tried to stand up, but she managed not to fall over, though she was still a bit shaky. "John? John, were are you?"

No answer came to her. She shook her head a muttered, "Of all times to leave me the hell alone, why _now_? Is he dead?" She directed this question at Harry, turning to face him.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know." He responded.

The girl shook her head shakily. "But...how..." She looked around. "Where could he have gone? I'm right here! Unless he fell down the other side of the mountain..."

It was at this point that her surroundings finally seemed to register, because her eyes widened again. "What the hell? It was snowing a minute ago. And we were on a highway! Up on a hill! Did we fall to civilization when our car got trashed?"

Harry was starting to feel concerned. He remembered the twisted space where the car had come from. Had her car been caught up in a messed-up Portkey? Or had the crash scrambled her brain? "Um, miss? You're miles from any highway. This is Little Whining."

The strange girl looked at him in disbelief, "Little what? Where's that?"

She must have hit her head harder than he had thought if she didn't know which country she was in. "Little Whining. It's a small town in Britain." He told her.

The girl dropped her hands to her side and gaped at him in total disbelief. Her blue eyes blazed with shock and confusion. "...That's _impossible_. We were in Alaska! We were just driving up to some godforsaken town in the middle of nowhere when..." Her eyes clouded over again, "There was those weird lights, and then that weird feeling...it's like something had grabbed my stomach and yanked me away, car and all."

That did sound like a Portkey – an overpowered portkey gone horribly wrong. But she wasn't dressed like a wizard, and she was starting to pace around, muttering, "This isn't possible – what the hell – I don't even-"

Her legs started to shake. On instinct, Harry reached out and took her arm. "Hey, you might want to sit down. Don't overexert yourself."

"Yes father!" The girl said, sounding a little hysterical.

She flopped down on the bench, lowering her head and putting it in her hands, as though she had a really bad headache. "I'm sorry. That was out of line – but this is so weird."

That was definitely true. There was no way she could be in Alaska one minute and then in Britain the next without the use of magic. She seemed very confused, though. Wouldn't she have said so, if there had been an accident? Maybe she wasn't mentioning it because she thought he was a muggle.

"Well, that sounds a little like a messed-up long distance portkey." He said.

At this the girl looked up at him, eyes wide. "Excuse me?"

...Okay, maybe she wasn't, then. "Uhh, nothing. Just some sort of phenomenon I heard my neighbours talking about."

The girl stared at him for a few long moments before suddenly, she sprang to her feet and brushed his hair off his forehead, revealing his scar. "Isn't that -? Hey, isn't it a little early to be going out in costume? Halloween isn't for a month."

"What, this?" Harry said, feeling very weirded out. "This isn't for a costume. It's a birthmark."

The girl scowled, "Oh, come on, don't pull my leg. I was just in a car crash. You have the exact same birthmark as Harry Potter? I have a very hard time believing that."

Harry jumped as though he'd been dumped in ice water. No one in the Little Whining area – except his aunt and uncle – knew who he really was, and even then they didn't know the whole story. Now a stranger – probably a muggle – identified him immediately? "You-you know who I am?"

The strange girl lowered her hand and said, "Wait, you're actual _name _is Harry Potter? Holy crap!" She looked at him. "Well, I suppose it was perfectly possible that it could happen – people do get hit by lightning, after all. Did you get teased a lot for having the same name as a famous book character, the boy-who-lived? Did you ever get called that as a stupid joke?" She paused. "Sorry I'm prying, but I need some kind of conversation to calm down."

"Fictional character?" Harry was completely flummoxed. This had never happened to him before. "There's no book about me. There's just _me_."

The girl giggled, shaking her head. "Have you been living under a rock for the last twenty-odd years? Everyone knows about the Harry Potter books." She scowled. "I got into the books later then my friends, so of course they had to go ahead and spoil the fact that Snape kills Dumbledore. Right after I said no spoilers! I mean, can you believe it?"

The ground lurched under Harry's feet, and suddenly nothing seemed clear. The strange girl had said that completely seriously, as though it were merely a minor annoyance and was now looking at him like she was expecting him to agree.

As if she hadn't just said that his Headmaster and mentor figure would be murdered by the Potion's teacher.

"You know who Snape and Dumbledore are."

"Yeah, 'course I do." The girl was starting to frown again, clearly not understanding why Harry didn't get the joke. "They're major characters."

"No, they're not characters, they're Professors at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Harry said, staring at her. "And if you know about them, you must be a witch."

"What?" The girl took a step backwards, her eyes flicking around the area again. "No. Dude, magic doesn't exist! Everyone knows that."

"But it does," Harry said impatiently; this doubletalk was beginning to agitated him. "You just named two Professors from a highly regarded magical school, and they Obliviate muggles that see magic. You know who I am – the boy-who-lived. Only wizards use that title."

the girl shook her head firmly. "No no no no no, Harry Potter is a _book series_. Look, I'll prove it to you."

She knelt down, unzipped her back and began ruffling through it. After a second, she pulled out a golden book with a phoenix drawn on the front. "Here. See?" She shoved the book under his nose.

Harry took in the cover of the book. It said in a bold title font, _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. _The author was listed as _JK Rowling_. It was quite thick, over 300 pages at least.

"Look at it," The girl insisted.

Numbly, Harry took the book from the girl and opened it. On the inside jacket, there was a short description preceded by the words, _"Sit down, Harry. I'm going to tell you everything."_ Below that, it said, _It's Harry Potter's fifth year at school. In the wake of the disastrous Tri-Wizard tournament and the return of Lord Voldemort, _

On the white page on the inside cover was scribbled, _Happy Birthday, Emily. Love, Mum._

Harry wasn't sure how long he stared at the page, but obviously his expression (he imagined it would be rather frightening) was enough to make the girl – Emily, her name probably was – nervous. "Uh...hello?" She ventured tentatively.

Hearing her voice was enough to snap Harry out of his daze. He wanted no more than to sit down and read the book from start to finish, but he had to deal with this strange, likely mad girl first. "This is impossible."

"Okay, you're starting to freak me out," Emily said, taking a step backwards.

Harry shut the book and took out his wand, which he had pocketed after seeing the car for the first time. "Fine. I have something to show you too. _Wingardium Leviosa!_" He pointed it at her backpack. The spell took hold, and the bag began to rise off the ground as if on its own will.

Emily stared at her floating backpack for a second. Then she moved her hands under and above it, as if searching for wires. Then she stared a little more. Then she slowly sat down on the bench.

"I've gone crazy," She whispered, "I damaged my brain in the crash and now I'm crazy."

Harry bit his lip and looked where the half-of-a-car was still sitting under the streetlight. "I think," He said slowly, "that we're _both _telling the truth. I don't know how or what's going on, and I think we need a second opinion."

"And a psychiatrist," Emily mumbled. "Do you think they'll toss me in an asylum?"

"Please hear. Me. Out." Harry said slowly. Emily looked up at him, looking lost and frightened, but she nodded nonetheless. "We better – oh, wait, I used magic outside school, they're going to expel me-" With that, all his original worries returned with a vengeance. Now what was he going to do?

"They aren't going to expel you," Emily said automatically, as though she wasn't really thinking about it. "In fact, they're going to be happy to see you alive."

Harry stopped his worrying and stared at her. "What do you mean?"

Emily shifted on the bench. "Uh, it's kind of complicated." She looked around. "Maybe not here – someplace else."

"Okay." Harry muttered. Having a plan – any plan – in this bizarre, unreal situation was comforting. "Well – we have to get to Diagon Alley. Do you have anything other than that bag?" Emily nodded in a robotic manner.

"There's my trunk – it's in the back."

Both preteens walked over to the back of what was left of the car. Harry opened the lock again and pulled out her trunk – it was pretty big, but no heavier than his own. Emily mumbled her thanks. "Oh – you dropped your wand." She reached down and picked it up.

Sparks shot out of the end. Harry's eyes widened.

"I knew it."

"What?" Emily stared at his wand as though she was expecting it to catch fire.

"You're a witch." Harry said. "Well, then at least you're coming here is most likely a magical event. That narrows it down."

Emily shakily handed Harry his wand back. This was probably scaring the heck out of her, Harry figured. It was obvious now that she truly believe that he was just a character in a book, that magic didn't exist, and that she really had been in Alaska. The mounting stress on top of her car crash probably wasn't doing her many favours.

Harry collected his own trunk, which he had left against the wall, and turned towards the street again. "Now, how exactly are we going to get to get to Diagon Alley?" He wondered out loud, once again cursing himself for not thinking this through.

"Can't you summon the Knight Bus?" Emily asked.

Harry opened his mouth to ask what that was, when suddenly there was a noise, a deafening BANG, and then a huge bus pulled up right in front of them. On the side of it was emblazoned the words, 'Knight Bus'.

The door swung open, and a man was standing on the stairwell. Harry was so stunned he merely stared flatly at the sight in front of him.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, standard emergency travel for any witch or wizard. My name is Stan Shunpike and I'll be your conductor for this evening." The man said, having appeared from inside the bus. "Who's coming, and where to?"

Harry looked at Emily, who stared back at him for a second before looking back at the bus. "Um, Harry Potter and Emily F - Rodrian."

The man leaned over. "'Arry Potter? Well, I'll be!" He said, staring at Harry's scar. "Come abord, come right aboard!"

Harry stepped onto the bus, Emily behind him. He wasn't entirely sure this was a good idea – he hadn't ruled out Emily being crazy, even with that book she'd shown him as evidence. But he couldn't help his unconscious desire to help people who were in trouble, so he paid for her fare and sat down next to her.

Little did he knew how Emily's presence would rock his world.

Wrapped up in their own problems, neither child noticed the huge black dog that had been trailing them ever since they had stepped onto the street.

**End Chapter**

**Thanks for reading! I promise, promise PROMISE I will put a lot of effort into making sure Emily doesn't become the usual Mary Sue. For one thing, most people are going to think she's crazy. Secondly, her (and Harry's) attempts to change the future will have consequences, and not all of them will be good. Lastly, _she will not be machmaking_. Other than that, enjoy.**

**Read and Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Fourth Wall**

**Moon: Well, here's the second chapter! This is mostly Harry reading about his future and his...less than positive reaction to what he finds out. Check it out, and I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 2: Crazy...Definitely Crazy**

Emily didn't say anything for the better part of the first drive, taking a second to stare at everything around her like she'd never seen it – which Harry supposed she hadn't. She was clamped onto his hands like her life depended on them, watching the streets whip past.

It would all be very strange for her. Harry recalled the awe and wonder he had experienced when he had first entered the wizarding world. She'd adjust soon enough, provided she wasn't crazy and her belief that he was a book was a figment of her imagination.

"You look worried," Harry said finally when he could no longer bear the silence. "Can I ask why?"

"Worried? Worried?" Emily repeated, glancing in his direction, looking a little hysterical. "There's dozens of evil wizards who will kill me for kicks, an nutcase with a private army who's mission in life is to destroy people like me, the only place remotely safe is breached on a regular basis, the ministry's useless – why wouldn't I be worried?"

"Yeah, about that," Harry turned in her direction. His eye spied the golden cover of _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix _in her backpack. Oh, what the hell? It couldn't hurt to ask. "You said before that you thought my life was just a series of books. Can you tell me about them? How many are there? I mean, if you were reading them right now, exactly where would we be?"

"Oh," Emily answered, looking a little awkward. Though having something to talk about seemed to calm her down quite a bit. She took a deep breath and said, "There are seven books in total. This would be the third book – _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_."

That title struck Harry as very ominous. "Prisoner? What prisoner?"

"Sirius Black." Emily responded. "Tossed in jail not long after you were killed, accused of blowing up a street full of thirteen muggles and Peter Pettigrew, supposedly a friend of his. They believed that he was a supporter of You-Know-Who – his right hand man, to be exact."

Harry felt a shiver go down his spine. That sounded ruthless, all right. He remembered seeing the image of the man on the TV screen. That had definitely been him; that was why they hadn't said where he had escaped from; he had come from a magical prison. The Ministry must be very worried about him, he thought, if they were telling the muggle authorities to look out for him too.

"He didn't do it."

Harry looked back at Emily, who's eyes were serious now. "He didn't?" He repeated, startled. "I don't understand."

"Pettigrew was the real culprit," Emily responded. "Now, he went down to the street, Sirius Black following him. He'd been a spy for Voldemort, see, and Sirius was an Auror. So he turned around and said -" She paused, her eyes flicking around, before saying carefully, "-saying that Black was the traitor, and held his wand behind his back. Sirius was about to curse him when he blew the street apart, transformed himself into a rat and fled into the sewer."

Harry digested this story and then asked, "Transformed himself into a rat? How?"

"There's a kind of magic out there called 'Animagus' transformations." Emily recited. "It's quite dangerous, and can take a long time to do, from what I read. Professor McGonagall is one – you've seen her in her cat form, right? Well, both Pettigrew and Black were Animagus. Peter was a rat, Sirius was a large black dog – kind of like a Grim."

Harry thought about that. When he had been on Mangolia Crescent, he had gotten the feeling that someone was watching him before Emily's car had appeared. Had that been Black? A sense of paranoia threatened to overwhelm him; there was so much he didn't understand.

"So they threw Sirius in prison?" He asked, trying to get a few things straight.

"Yeah," Emily said. "They found him laughing at the scene, which didn't do him any favours. The war was just ending, and Barty Crouch was in charge of the trails, so he was tossing people who were even just suspected of being Death Eaters in Azkaban without trails. Nobody questioned Sirius's conviction because, I quote, "the evidence was loaded against him." She scowled. "Where I come from, no matter the evidence you always get a trail. There might be something that they overlooked."

"I suppose so," Harry murmured. He twitched his hands, which were feeling cold. His entire world seemed to be wobbling on the story that Emily was telling him. It didn't make much sense, and seemed unbelievable against the stories that they were hearing all around them as other patrons got on and off the Knight Bus.

Suddenly, there was a rush of fear as he considered something. If Voldemort or his right-hand man were around, could they get to his friends? Could they hurt people he cared about? Would any of them die?

Questions swirled around his head, ones he desperately needed answers to. "Emily?"

"Yeah?" The crazy girl asked, her voice soft. Whether it was fear, anticipation or some combination of the two, Harry couldn't tell.

"In all these books, do any of my friends die?"

Silence. Emily stared at the floor, eyes dark. She knew the answer, Harry realized, but she didn't want to tell him.

"Emily?" He asked, fear building up in his stomach, wondering weather it was Hermione or Ron or one of the Weasleys –

"Some people do die," Emily responded, evasion blatant in her tone. "Something I'll tell you, in the books both Hermione and Ron survive past the Epilogue."

Harry let out his breath. Even though rationally he knew that that left a huge number of people who could get hurt or die, he was beyond relieved that both his closest friends survived everything that happened, whatever those things might be.

The bus jerked to a stop, and Stan called out, "Diagon Alley!"

Harry grabbed his trunk and helped Emily with hers, and both of them walked down the hall and stepped off the bus.

%&%&%&&%&%&%&%&%&%&

Emily gaped as she looked around Diagon Alley. It was like her dreams had materialized into real life, surrounding her with magic. This, to her, was final confirmation that this was real, and that she hadn't gone insane. She could see people levitating things, waving wands overhead, owls flying everywhere, lights flashing from the ends of wands. She was really in Diagon Alley with Harry Potter.

Oh, wow.

"There you are, Harry." A hand rested on Harry's shoulder. Both kids turned around and saw Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, standing right behind him.

Emily resisted the urge to take a massive step backwards. The Minister didn't look any more appealing than he had in the movies. She wouldn't trust Fudge with her bunny slippers, especially when keeping book five in mind, and would rather not entertain him with her presence at all.

Fudge turned Harry around and then looked at her. "Hello, Harry. You gave us quite a scare, disappearing from your aunt and uncle's like that!" He turned and looked at Emily. "Who's this lovely young lady?"

"Oh-sir, this is Emily." Harry said, casting a quick look at her as though thinking on his feet. "She, um, she's a latent witch. Her magic showed up late for some reason. We, uh, ran into each other so I figured that I'd show her around."

"Ah," Fudge said in understanding. "I understand now. The appearance of magic is rarely delayed, strange but not serious. Do you live around here, Emily? What's your last name?"

"Uh..." Emily thought furiously, "Yes, I do. And it's Rodrian."

"Emily Rodrian! Muggleborn, I take it? Yes, I'll send a notice to Hogwarts right away, I think they'll have no trouble accepting you late." Fudge exclaimed. "If you'll excuse me, young miss, there's something I must discuss with Mr. Potter, if you'd kindly wait here..." He promptly steered Harry into the Leaky Cauldron, leaving Emily standing outside.

Emily took a shaky breath and looked around, trying to take stock of her situation. She was in a strange new world with different rules than she was used to. There were also a group of crazy murders out there who would kill her for who her family was.

_Not now,_ she ordered herself. Think about the simple stuff. Elementary, Emily, elementary. _Panic later. _She put that on the bottom of her mental checklist, underlined in red.

She'd definitely be panicking later.

Simple things, then. She had little to no money on her name, so it would be practically impossible to buy her school supplies. She could trade her meagre allowance for galleons, she assumed, but somehow she doubted that it would cover everything. Secondly, she was probably going to start as a first year – would they give her a list of the things she'd need?

Also – what life-threatening thing was happening this year? Oh right, Dementors. Should probably attempt the Patronus Charm when she got to Hogwarts.

Next – steer clear of Malfoy at all costs. She had enough on her plate without dealing with that stuck – up horror.

Then, worry about where she was going to be sorted. Gryffindor? Ravenclaw? Anywhere but Slytherin would be nice; the bullying she'd get if she went into Slytherin was not something she wanted to think about. She was a _mudblood_, after all. No, hopefully she'd go just about _any_where else.

Fourthly – the Sirius Black problem. Emily was a very strong believer in justice, and she couldn't in good conscious let a man run from the authorities like a hunted dog when she knew the truth. And there, of course, lay the problem. Proving it would be very difficult, especially with the Dementors breathing down on their collective necks over the course of this year.

She knew intellectually that he was innocent, as well as the exact details of what happened that fateful day, but she couldn't very well go to anyone without hard evidence, or she'd be chucked into St. Mugo's faster than you could say 'Rabbit'. There would also be the ominous question of how, exactly, she knew that, and she didn't want the books becoming public knowledge. Merlin knew what would happen if they did, but she doubted it would be good. So, she'd have to find existing evidence that proved it. The only existing hard evidence was the actual killer, Peter Pettigrew, which brought a whole other barrel of problems. The most important of which being, of course, how exactly she was going to get him to reveal himself and confess – which didn't involve the Whomping Willow and a werewolf. Also, if Remus didn't miss his wolfsbane potion that night, maybe he wouldn't get outed as a werewolf by Snape.

Severus Snape. Emily quickly rearranged her 'to be avoided at all costs' list so he was at the top, right before Malfoy and Umbitch. Double agent status be damned, he was very vindictive and nasty and she didn't want to have to deal with him outside of Potion's class.

She supposed she could read Harry the Prisoner of Azkaban ahead of time, then they could grab Scabbers before he knew they were onto him. But then what? They could take him to Dumbledore, but would the headmaster believe that the rat was an animagus and needed to be despelled? He would help them, surely, but they would only have one shot...

Speaking of the rat and his master, there was also the Horcrux problem.

Now, Emily wasn't entirely happy with the explanation that Dumbledore had given that Harry was a Horcrux, because frankly it didn't make any sense to her. How, exactly, could you make the darkest and most forbidden of magics _accidentally_? There was more chance of firing a machine gun 'accidentally'. Also, unless Occlmency was the art of soul-manipulation, how could Voldemort be connected to Harry so deeply? Unless it was merely a mental link, which suggested a shallower connection, and one that shouldn't allow Harry to come back from the dead. There was certainly _something _inside him, but was it a Horcrux? Horcruxes were supposed to be indestructible, and Harry got seriously hurt multiple times over the course of the books. Also, Quirrel had part of Voldemort's soul in his head, but he wasn't a Horcrux, and if that was the same, then shouldn't Harry be able to destroy every Horcrux he came across just by touching it?

Emily's headache started up again.

_Think of something more simple. _

Okay. The existing Horcruxes. She wasn't sure if Nagini was a Horcrux at this point, but she definitely was by the time fourth year rolled around. The locket was there, but Kreacher was guarding it, and they couldn't get into Grimmauld Place until after they found out the truth about Sirius. The diary, which Harry had already destroyed, was there. The cup was in Lestrange's vault. The Ring was still inside the Gaunt shack. The diadem was in the Room of Requirement...

The diadem. It was close by. She could get it when she got to Hogwarts this year.

_But wouldn't Dumbledore want to know how you knew it existed? _A voice nagged at the inside of her head. _Wouldn't he question exactly how you knew? What you must have been involved with, if you could recognize a Horcrux..._

Emily groaned and buried her face in her hands. She wished there were easier answers to all these questions. If she didn't share them with someone, and just walked through the halls with all the people who would die...she'd explode.

_I have to learn defensive magic. As much as sanely possible. _

"Emily?" Harry's voice came from somewhere behind her, making her jump. She turned around to see the boy-who-lived smiling sheepishly at her. "Uh, we've got a hotel room. Mind coming this way? Fudge asked me to keep an eye on you until we hit the train."

"Uh, sure! Fine. Cool." Emily said nervously, following Harry into the Leaky Cauldron, her trunk and backpack feeling heavier than ever. There was so much she had to tell him.

"Apparently, muggleborns have a 'starter vault' with five thousand galleons in it to cover the initial cost of their schooling," Harry told her as they walked through the halls and into their room. "After that they're on their own." His nostrils flared. "It's one of the rules that Lucius Malfoy's been fighting to have repealed." He glanced at her meaningfully and asked, "You know about him?"

"Yup," Emily said darkly. "There's a lot to explain, Harry, but first we better make sure we aren't overheard..." Harry gestured into the room, which Emily scurried into.

It was a simple place, with two beds and a mirror. Emily immediately sat down on one and began hunting for her iPad and eReader.

Harry watched curiously as she pulled out her laptop, phone, eReader, hard copies of the Order of the Phoenix and Goblet of Fire, and finally, iPad and laid them out on the bed. Emily cursed when she realized that she had forgotten to bring Deathly Hallows. She'd have to explain that one by word of mouth. "What are those things?" He asked.

Emily blinked. She'd almost forgotten that it was 1994, and that most of the technology she took for granted didn't exist yet. "Oh, this is just some stuff that muggles are going to be making soon." She explained. "This one can hold books on it." She raised her eReader.

Harry looked at the small device. "So that one has my books on it?" He asked, sounding like he was still trying to digest the fact. But now there was a definite note of curiosity in his voice. He was probably excited to see how his life ended up.

Emily nodded. "Yeah. You'll probably want to turn a lamp on, because they books are long and there's a to get through."

Harry nodded and adjusted the lamp. They both sat back against the head of Emily's bed, careful not to kick any of her devices, and Emily began to read, "_Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated summer vacation more than any other time of the year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework, but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard..." _

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

Emily read for hours, stopping only at the end of each book to drink a glass of water. Harry had gone from curiosity, to shock, to horror, to disgust, to frustration, then back to shock and just stayed there as Emily continued through his future adventures.

Emily went through Prisoner of Azkaban with many interruptions, Harry questioning every other thing and her answering patiently with all she could remember of Maurader-era Hogwarts. Then she swept through Goblet of Fire, sparing no expense when describing the scene in the graveyard, Cedric's death, Voldemort's rebirth, the Moody they had just been hearing being a fake.

Then she moved onto Order of the Phoenix, standing before the Wizamgot, Umbridge and her reign of tyranny, Hagrid seeing the giants, Harry's failed relationship with Cho, Arthur's near death, Kreacher's betrayal and the frantic race to the DoM, only to find out it was a trap. Sirius's death. The duel with Voldemort. The prophecy.

Emily had gotten worried at this point, and had explained the nature of the prophecy and the way it tied into everything that had happened. Harry had merely stared at her in blank horror, waiting only for her to stop talking at which point he croaked, "Keep reading." A little worried, Emily obliged, and went into Half Blood Prince.

She talked about Slughorn, the Horcurxes, and Snape's role as a double agent to soften the blow that was coming at the end of the book. She also told him about Ron and Hermione's chaotic relationship and his tryst with Lavander Brown, and Harry's eventual discovery of his feelings for Ginny, his future wife. She then told him about Greyback, Bill's mutilation, Dumbledore's death, and about Regulus Black and his fake Horcrux. She told him that he would miss seventh year chasing the Horcruxes.

Harry hadn't said a single word at the end of the book, merely staring at with an ashen expression. Nervously, Emily had then retold him the plot of Deathly Hallows, the number of Horcruxes, Ron abandoning him only to return when the Locket tried to drown him. She told him about the final battle, Colin, Moody, Tonks, Remus and Fred dying, the fact that there was..._something _in his scar that would be destroyed by Avada Kedavra, the aftermath, then finally the Epilogue, the names of his children and then the final line.

"_...Harry lowered his hand to his lightning-bolt scar. It hadn't pain him for nineteen years. All was well. Yes, he whispered. They'll be fine." _

With that, Emily finally concluded her recollection of the Deathly Hallows and turned her attention to Harry.

Harry merely stared at her for several very long moments. He took a shuddering breath; his entire body was trembling so violently his glasses almost fell of his face. He was white as a sheet, his eyes flicking everywhere. Emily couldn't think of anything she could possibly say to help him. She sat there and watched his face worriedly as he processed everything she had told him. Maybe she should have told him more slowly?

Harry shakily picked up a class of water and drank from it, spilling a lot of it over the bed. Emily raised hand, meaning to comfort him or hold his shoulder, but halted an inch from him, unsure.

After a long minute, Harry took a trembling breath and asked in total disbelief... "I married _Ginny_?"

Emily had to bite down on a very inappropriate chuckle. Of all the questions he could have asked, that was the one that came to mind first? Out of everything that he had just heard. Well, she supposed that despite everything he was still a teenaged boy. "Yeah, but you knew her better by then. She grew up out of the blushing girl who could barely talk to you."

"Professor Snape was in love with my mother?" Harry asked, sounding like a mishmash of horrified wonder and shocked understanding.

Emily could only shrug sheepishly. "The universe works in weird ways, doesn't it?" That had thrown her for a loop when she had first read the book, and she had never known Professor Snape personally. It would be different for the person who had actually knew the people involved. Though, she mused, how much did Harry really know about his mother, outside of the fact that she was a brilliant witch, she married his father and that she had died for him? That was a discouraging thought; she couldn't imagine knowing nothing about her mother.

Harry took a deep breath and flopped back down on the bed, staring unseeingly at the ceiling. For a second she worried that he might be having a fit of some sort, but his breathing was steady. "Should I get you some more water?" Emily asked worriedly.

"That would be nice," Harry muttered. "Just – just let me think for a minute, okay?"

"Sure. I'll go get a jug." Emily whispered, getting off the bed and out of the room, leaving Harry to process what he had just learned. She wandered down the hall, looking for the kitchen. The floorboards squeaked under her feet as she sank into her thoughts.

It was around the middle of the night at this point, but the day's events and revelations had put any thought of sleep out of her mind. That would be a lot to take in. How was he going to take this? Once again she wondered if this was a good idea. A thought she had always expressed when reading the book was that the Order and Dumbledore expected too much of Harry, considering his age. Maybe hearing all this too soon was a bit to much?

How could she help him? She eventually found the kitchen, where she asked for a jug of water. She walked back towards their suite, thinking of what she might say, before pushing the door open.

Harry was still lying on his back, but to her relief he looked decidedly calmer now. Though this didn't mean he was better emotionally. The copy of Order of the Phoenix was sitting on his chest, the chapter with the prophecy dog-eared something fierce.

He saw her come in and said, "You know, I had wondered for so long...why the Dursleys? Why did I have to live with people who hated me so much? They never wanted me. I've been bullied, I've been alone my entire life, I've been kept in the darkness of a cupboard. That was my only question. Why?"

He gestured vaguely with one hand. "And now I know, and...and if anything, I just feel worse about it."

Emily silently poured water into his glass and offered it to him. Harry muttered his thanks and sat up straight. He looked like he had been crying. He drank a little before continuing.

"I have a Godfather, and I'm going to loose him in two years. I won't even get to see him that much during that time, it's just no!, back to your jail. Even when happiness is available to me it's completely out of my reach. It's like standing in a barrel with grapes hanging directly over your head. And what makes it worse is that his death is my fault."

"I trusted the Headmaster a lot, you know. I knew very little about him, but he he seemed to be such a nice man, someone who cared about me. And now..." he gestured vaguely. "Now I can't trust anything he says, because he's lied. Lied about so many things. He has designs for me to die, Emily. Die before I even become an adult."

He stared pensively at his glass. It was so quiet that they could hear the wind whistling against the window frame.

"He could have done something about them sooner – he knew where half of them were. He's the Chief Warlock and Head of the ICU for god's sake, he could have made sure Sirius had a trail, and ordered the vaults of suspected Death Eaters searched. But he didn't do any of those things, so it falls on me to take care of Voldemort."

He went silent, running a hand through his permanently messy Potter hair. His eyes were getting a little glassy, possibly out of all the stress.

"I don't want to die." Harry murmured. "I've never really lived. I thought...I thought originally that Hogwarts was my escape from the Dursleys. But it turns out that it was just another cage."

Emily didn't argue this. She couldn't, now that she was thinking of it.

"They thought I was the Heir of Slytherin in second year. Then they'll turn against me over my name coming out of the Goblet of Fire. And then they'll think I'm a deluded attention-seeking liar in my fifth. And then Voldemort will just stroll into the Ministry's office and take over so easily he might as well have just had himself voted in." Harry recited. "These people sure do turn on a knut, don't they?"

"The Press always turns. The only thing they like more than building up a hero is taking one down." Emily said.

Immediately she kicked herself; that was not what Harry needed to hear right now. She really needed to learn when to keep her mouth shut, or she'd be just as bad as Ron Weasley. Harry needed comfort and support, not ominous predictions that confirmed what he was worrying about. "There are people who know the truth."

"Doesn't seem to matter to any of them." Harry said. "I'll still end up searching for the Horcruxes, against an entire army, all by myself. I still the one who looses my owl, my friends and my only chance for a family in the aftermath. Hell, what was the thanks I got when I saved the wizarding world when I was a baby? The Dursleys."

Emily swallowed. Harry's despair was becoming contagious; for a reason she couldn't explain it hurt her to see him like this. There was something about the broken bespectacled boy lying in the bed that she felt a strange kinship to.

She sat down on the edge of the bed and held his hand, like her mother had done when she was a little girl. His skin was hot to the touch. Was he making himself sick? This really had been a bad idea. _Stupid Emily_!

But, he was going to go through it anyway, was the foreknowledge worth it? Would he get through this with fewer scars? Would more people survive?

Emily's mind was in turmoil like nothing she had experienced. The only thing keeping her focused and level-headed was Harry's hand in hers. She knew a little of what it was like to have no choice, but no one knew that better than he did.

"How would I ever be able to raise those kids?" Harry whispered, and it took Emily a second to realize he was talking about his children from the Epilogue. "What do I know about love? Or childhood? I've never experienced either. I'll be nothing but a bucket of trauma and broken life by the time they are born. How could I possibly give them what they need? Or Ginny, for that matter. If...if we marry...I've never been loved. How would I know how to love her?"

His temperature was definitely rising, and their trunks suddenly rattled. Emily's many electric devices flashed on and off.

"Harry, please, stay with me. Stay calm, stay in the now," Emily whispered.

Harry let out a soft moan and tightened his grip on her hands. His breathing was becoming laboured. Something was definitely very wrong, and suddenly she was sure it didn't just have to do with the books.

Harry turned his head over so he was staring out the window, seemingly heedless to this. "My Auror file must say something like, 'difficult to control'...which is a nice way of saying that everything I touch and everyone around me seems to wither and die."

"Harry," Emily murmured, worried about his rising temperature. She took some water and splashed it on his face. He didn't protest, which worried her more. "Harry, you have to remember. None of this stuff has happened yet. There might be something you can do about it. We can change something."

"I've never been able to change anything, Emily." Harry muttered. "It's a nice sentiment, but control is never a luxury I have enjoyed. I've never been in control of anything...much less myself."

There was another long, painful pause. Emily swallowed; she wanted to suggest that he have more water but she was starting to think what was happening to Harry was a little more serious.

"Emily?"

"Yes?" Emily asked, her voice cracking a bit.

Harry's fingers squeezed around hers a little. A single tear dripped down his cheek, and there was a raw pleading look on his face as he stared up at her. "Am I just a weapon, Emily?" He asked, as though praying she'd have a different answer.

"No," She whispered, her thumb stroking the back of his hand.

Harry shut his eyes. "But that's all I am to them, aren't I? Just the boy who lived, there to defeat Voldemort and dropped like a hot potato the moment I've served my purpose. I suppose you never do see the heroes of war in the downtown area, do you?"

"That's not true," Emily whispered. "The brave people who defended their counties are honoured every year. They're given compensations and live long, comfortable lives."

Harry gave a broken chuckle. "Somehow I don't think that's how it will work with me." Then his head flopped against the pillow, and his eyes shut.

"Harry? Harry?" Emily asked, scared. Gently she shook his shoulders. "Harry!"

This time, he didn't respond.

Frantically, Emily grabbed all the things that had brought this inexplicable sickness on and shoved them into various hiding places before running out of the room, calling for help.

**End Chapter**

**Well? How was that?**

**Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**The Fourth Wall**

**Moon: I'm back! This might annoy some people, but honestly now that Harry knows what's going to happen wildly diverting from canon is the first thing that's going to happen. I didn't want to bore anyone with a retread of the books with minor changes. I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Chapter 3: Dreams and Reality**

It was nearly five in the morning at this point and the sun was rising; Emily was stumbling slightly as she had Harry were taken to St. Mugo's.

"It's a severe amount of stress bordering on a psychological break," The nurse had told her after giving Harry an initial assessment. "Magic is close to our emotions, so it exploded a bit. I'm not surprised, if what you've told me about those muggles is true."

She had blamed Harry's outburst on the Dursleys, for she could not tell them the whole truth. She had locked the dangerous objects in the trunk after Tom had come up to get help for Harry. Now she felt as though she were cradling a grenade close to her chest, waiting for it to go off.

She wasn't sure if anything would come of her speaking of the Dursley family, since it hadn't before. _It certainly hadn't mattered to Dumbledore,_ she thought sourly. _All that matters is that Harry's the weapon ready to defeat Voldemort. _Her stomach burned when she thought of the Headmaster, despite her best attempts to shunt the dark thoughts of the Headmaster away. They were going to need his help, and she couldn't afford to alienate him.

Exhaustion coupled with Harry's reaction to the future had did little to fold these feelings away. She decided that she would work for the man, but that didn't mean she had to like him; or take all his advice. That gave her some measure of peace.

Was it strange that she had become friends with Harry so fast? Emily wondered about that. There was something about the black-haired boy that she felt a kinship to, and he needed help and support for what was coming. Ron and Hermione wouldn't meet up with them until later, and she was here now – so she had to be here for him.

Emily was still holding Harry's hand, almost afraid of what would happen if she let go. Her mind was spinning as she attempted to form some sort of plan for when they got to school. In her free hand she spun one of her headphones back and forth. Vaguely she tried to put together a plan for the day when a nurse put a hand on her shoulder.

"You should get some sleep, too." She said kindly. "Latent magic is just as stressful, and you've been awake for a long time."

It was a credit to how long the day had been that Emily didn't even attempt to retort; she just floundered over to a bed and collapsed on it. Within seconds, she was asleep.

%&%&%&%&%&%%&%&%&%&%

How long she slept, Emily didn't know, but she woke up in a late evening to see Harry with stacks upon stacks of books, bottles, a coat, and most shockingly several guns and enough explosive charges to level Diagon Alley.

She sat up in bed and just watched as he packed them methodically into a large backpack which shouldn't be able to hold all of them, but was. She wondered what on earth he was trying to do. Harry looked up to see her staring and handed her a long wand. It immediately felt warm in her hand, and sparks shot out the end of it.

"I hope you don't mind that I bought that for you," Harry said in a hushed voice. He seemed very focused, and gentle. "But I wanted to thank you without waking you up."

"It wouldn't have mattered," Emily protested. "I'm ready to help you, Harry. I've never really had a close friend before – I can't really explain why, but I feel close to you."

Harry merely offered her a grim smile. "I think there's a reason for that. Look in the mirror."

Confused, Emily stood up and walked over to a mirror at the end of the hall. She gasped when she saw her reflection. Her black hair and skin tone hadn't changed, but her eyes were now the same colour as Sirius Black. Any resemblance to her father – to John Fade – was gone.

"Purebloods have weaved their bloodlines close together." Harry's voice came from behind her. "My dad James and my godfather Sirius were actually cousins. How insane is that?"

"I-I don't understand," Emily stammered. "What – how -?"

"It's funny." Harry said. "Well, not really. But after the war, Dumbledore wanted to start some marriages to settle things down. The first thing he did was try to guide my father into a marriage with Angela Greengrass."

Greengrass. Emily's mind ran through the names of the students at Hogwarts and suddenly remembered Draco's future wife, Astoria and her sister Daphne. "Any relation to Daphne and Astoria Greengrass?"

"The Ice Queen and her sister? Yeah, she's their aunt. Anyway, Dumbledore figured that bringing the Light and Dark families together would result in some stability for the wizarding world. For my mother, he tried to convince her to marry Sebastian Zabini, the third husband of Samantha Zabini. He also wanted Andromeda Black to join Evan Parkinson in marriage."

"But it didn't work out that way?" Emily ventured. "I mean, I remember that Andi eloped with that guy Ted Tonks – I think their daughter Nym becomes an auror this year (or was that next year?) - but what happened?"

"Sirius fell in love with Angela." Harry explained. "And dad with my mum. Angela begged her parents to consider him but they refused because Sirius had been disowned for not upholding Pureblood tradition, as you know. Angela and her brother Daniel weren't staunch believers of the superiority of purebloods, they opted to be neutral, but their parents were fanatic believers – as bad as Sirius's mum. When James opted to marry my mum, they decided to get her a different suiter – Yaxley."

Emily gagged at the thought of having to marry _that _pompous piece of Death Eater garbage. "Damn. Please tell me she didn't take that sitting down."

"She didn't, she made her opinion of that very clear. So she ran off with Sirius, three months before Pettigrew betrayed my parents. In that time, she got pregnant – people do that kind of stuff during the last days of war -" Harry waved a book over his head for emphasis.

Emily walked back towards him. "So Sirius had a wife?" She said. "That's funny – Angela is my mother's name."

"They weren't married yet. But he meant to, and my dad approved of their match. They were at their wedding, my mum and dad's. Of course, everything went down the tubes soon afterwards – my parents died, the rat betrayed them and faked his death. Sirius got blamed for it. Lalalala. Andromeda eloped with Ted Tonks at roughly that time. Well, when Anglea's parents found her again, they were so furious. They demanded her child be aborted and that she marry their new suitor. She told them to go to hell, and they banished her."

At this point Harry stood up and looked Emily straight in the eye. "Not just from the family, but off the face of the planet. Her father figured the ultimate punishment for her, a pureblood, would be to have to live in a world where there was no magic."

Emily felt the ground tilt dangerously under her feet. The implications of this conversation were _not _lost on her, but it was almost impossible to process them. She thought about how her mother had a tenancy to stare out the window with a look of heartbroken longing, or how she broke down into tears when she saw a huge black stray dog sitting on their front steps. Her mother, Angela Rodrian – no, Angela Greengrass.

This was an earthshaking revelation, one that threatened to knock down the walls of everything she had ever known. But she forced herself to stay focused, and said with total disbelief, "My dad is Sirius Black? _The _Sirius Black?"

Harry chuckled. "Yep. That makes us family. Second cousins. That's why we felt so at ease near each other and why we could trust each other. I thought it was strange – I wasn't used to this kind of thing – but I admit it makes sense now. It's refreshing, when you're only other family member is Dudley."

_I have a family. I have a _magical _family. _Emily thought numbly. For all these years she had thought herself a practical girl when actually she was a refugee from the magical world.

"That also makes Daphne and Astoria your cousins." Harry added.

Emily's head snapped up, "Well no cousin of mine is going to marry Draco Malfoy! Honestly! What did she _see _in him? The best you could say for him after Deathly Hallows is that he was just too chicken to follow through with Voldemort's orders!"

Harry actually laughed at this, it was nice to see after his meltdown last night. Emily watched him with a soft smile, Harry was her _cousin_, this was so surreal.

"I'm not arguing with that. I just figured you should go see them when you get to Hogwarts."

Emily blinked. "When I get to Hogwarts? You aren't going?"

Harry looked a bit incredulous. "You told me about all seven Horcruxes and you're expecting me to just sit around and go through school while they're out there? I couldn't focus on schoolwork now if someone held me at gunpoint. No, I'm going to go hunting. What did you think the explosives were for?"

"Dumbledork's office?" Emily suggested, though her head was spinning at the implications of Harry going out Horcrux hunting _now_.

Harry smirked a bit, "As appealing as that idea is, no. It's for the Gaunt Shack. There, deals with all the traps and I don't have to lift a finger."

Emily blinked and then nodded sheepishly; JK Rowling had gone on record in interviews to say that muggle weapons could total magic defences. There was no reason that wouldn't be true. "Good point. But you shouldn't go alone."

"I'm working on that. But I want to do this in a way that will get as few people killed as possible." Harry said, agitation evident in his tone and in his posture. "I will not have Sirius and Remus and Colin and Fred dying this time, thank you very much."

Emily nodded carefully. She could see where this was going.

"Are you willing to help me?" Harry asked her.

"Of course!" Emily said, it was her turn to be indigent. "My moron of a second-cousin, of course I'd help you! I'm not evil! Now are you going to tell me what's going on or not?"

Harry looked up at her and smiled. He beckoned her over with a hand, and when she was at his side he started to explain, "So my first thought was that I had to clear Sirius, because if he isn't furious about being locked up in Grimmauld he won't be more reckless than usual, and with that on top of me not believing a fake vision will save him from the Department of Ministry. In fact, if I have my way he won't have to enter the Ministry at all."

Emily nodded and said, "From what we know of the books Voldemort won't be revived until the end of fourth year." She said, "but his Death Eaters started mobilizing before that."

"there are two people responsible for Voldemort's revival." Harry explained. "Barty Crouch Jr and Pettigrew. Now, if we grab Peter in third year Voldemort will be flummoxed, but with Crouch still on the field he might still be able to come back. So we have to find some way of drawing the attention to his cell, but there I'm coming up blank. I don't know anyone in the Ministry who would help us."

Emily thought hard. A non-corrupt Ministry member...that was a very short list, and one prominent name came to the top. "Do you think Amelia Bones could help?" She asked. "She seems to be the most like an actual law enforcement member – and one of the ones murdered before Voldemort's takeover."

Harry mused before saying, "That's probably a good idea. But how would we convince her to have someone look at the grave?"

Emily bit into her lip, if Bones thought they were a couple of kids screwing around she'd never take them seriously. "Um...maybe...hey, I've got an idea."

Harry looked at her, "What?"

"Maybe we can say something about Sirius's escape." Emily said rapidly, "That we think he feigned death and was carried out for burial. They'll dig up every body from his sector that died recently looking for evidence, and Crouch Jr's cell was a cell away on his right."

Harry thought about that and then said, "Brilliant. I think that could work. Crouch Jr doesn't get away until after the Quidditch world cup, they search Crouch's house and they'll probably be able to find him. Should probably send an anonymous note, though, just in case. I don't need any more attention."

He put the last few charges into the bag and zipped it up. "I had Dobby put some safety charms on this on top of the bottomless charm. I'll be sure not to wear the Locket around my neck if I ever go swimming." They both giggled and then winced when they remembered that passage.

"Right..." Emily's mind went racing over their options, "So with any luck that will seriously delay Voldemort's resurrection. It's hard for him to give direct orders as a wraith, and he has only the rat to look after him, and not until he gets away..."

"Which is what makes this the perfect time," Harry said. "I have to go now, Emily. But I can't do this alone. Can you give this to Ron and Hermione?" He handed her a letter.

"Of course," Emily said. "What's in it?"

"It talks about the books and what's going to happen. I need you guys to get the Diadam horcrux from the Room of Requirement and go to someone who will destroy it. I'm pretty sure McGonagall or Remus will help." Harry said. He pulled the bag over his shoulder. "It will be easier now that I know where to go. I'll be in contact with you as often as possible."

"How'd you buy all this stuff?" Emily asked curiously. "I mean, I'm pretty sure most wizards would think it beneath them to have muggle explosives with them. That would require admitting that muggles are smart."

Harry smirked. "The goblins are willing to exchange magical currency for muggle pounds. After that it was just a quick trip through the lower areas of London to get what I needed. I just had to say I was getting supplies for my workaholic construction-working father."

"Cool," Emily said with a wry look. She was still processing the revelation of her real father and her mother's bloodline, but she figured it would sink in when she finally met the man. What she was more worried about was how she was going to handle her cousins – now that she was having trouble working her brain around, Slytheirn's beautiful ice princess and her sister were related to her. She had meant what she said that she didn't want someone close to her to marry Draco, unless the boy truly rejected what Voldemort taught she didn't see how a union with him would be safe.

She just didn't see how she'd be able to talk to them about it. You couldn't exactly just waltz up to someone and tell them this kind of information. Her mother had been banished, after all. She didn't know if they'd even want to interact with her.

"Here's my third year books," Harry said, handing her another bag. "I won't be using them here, but this is what I want you to use," He handed her a small book that resembled Riddle's diary. "I know what it looks like," He said, "but it's perfectly safe two-way communication. I've had it checked, and my own copy." He showed it to her. He wrote in it and the words _Hi Emily _appeared on her page.

Emily smiled. "Thanks Harry."

"You're welcome cousin," Harry clapped his hands together. "Now let's go get you to school."

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%

Emily dragged her trunk along, a bounce in her step and a smirk on her face. She was _on _the Hogwarts train! Nothing could stop her good mood now. She just had to find Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley and her day would be set. Of course, she thought belatedly, there would be a bunch of unfun things to do later, but she had practised her patronus quite diligently and she liked how strong it looked.

She got onto the train and walked down the hall; she was tempted to shoulder-ram Malfoy as she sauntered past him but refrained at the last second. _But you are so getting pranked later you asshole. _She kept walking until she saw Ron and Hermione disappear into a compartment. Her smile grew a bit and she followed them.

Carefully she opened the door and smiled shyly at everyone inside, Ron Hermione and Remus Lupin, who was asleep now. "Hello. Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all," Hermione said friendly like. Emily smiled back and sat down next to Lupin, before sticking out her hand. "You must be Hermione Granger."

"Yes, I am," Hermione said, shaking her hand. "I must confess I don't think I've seen you around school before. What's your name?"

"Emily Rodrian. For some reason my magic came in really late; my mum was beside herself with worry that something was wrong for the longest time. But it finally showed up, so hear I am." Emily grinned. "You must be Ron Weasley," She added, directing her attention to Ron. "I hear you're amazing at Wizard Chess – like, the best in the school."

Ron gawked at her, clearly having trouble believing that she had recognized him not by the fact that he was friends with Harry Potter but by his own accomplishments. His eyes lit up like Christmas lights. "Uh – I mean, yeah, I guess I am." He looked around conspiratorially. "Hey, have you seen a boy with messy black hair, green eyes and a lightning-shaped scar? We've been looking for him on the platform but he hasn't shown up."

"Harry Potter?" Emily suggested. "Yeah, I met him when I was looking for the entrance to Diagon Alley. We spent some time together."

"Is he here?" Hermione asked anxiously. "We looked for him on the platform but couldn't find him in time."

"Yeah, well he said there were some really important things he needed to do, and he asked me to give his two best friends this note." Emily handed him the note, complete with Harry's messy handwriting.

Hermione and Ron began reading it, growing steadily paler the further down they went. At some point, Ron's jaw dropped right open. Hermione was more composed, but she was white as a sheet by the time they reached the third page. Emily watched as they kept reading until finally they reached the end, stared at her, then at each other, and finally at the letter.

At least, Ron spoke. "Bloody bollocking trolls." He managed. Hermione, despite everything, smacked him for his language.

"I know. Funnily enough, I said something very similar to that when I finished reading it. Harry to. We must be of like minds," Emily said lightly.

Hermione leanded back in her seat, completely rigid. "This is insane. This – this is – ugh! There's no words for this!" She raked a hand through her busy brown hair, looking slightly insane. "Oh Harry, we would have gone with you! But now there's something in the school that needs doing. Definitely."

"PS, a dementor is going to attack your compartment," Ron said disbelievingly. "Who the bloody hell writes that? Harry!"

Emily was surprised, they were taking Harry's definitely out-there words at face value. But they were his closest friends, so perhaps that's what it was.

Hermione nodded in Lupin's direction. "Mr Lupin was one of the Maurauders...he definitely needs to know. We better wake him up before the Dementor gets here."

%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&%&

Harry knew he was being followed for a few steps as he left London and started heading for the Gaunt shack. He turned his head and saw a large black dog standing not too far away.

Three days ago, this sight would have terrified him. Now, there were soft tears pooling at the edges of his eyes, thinking about what life would have been like with his godfather raising him. "Hello, Padfoot," He whispered.

The dog looked up at him, his eyes conveying shock. It wasn't all negative shock, but still. Harry smiled, put down his bag and gestured for the dog to come closer. "Don't leave me again, Padfoot." He pleaded. "I know the truth. Just stay with me, okay? Stay with me."

The dog padded forward and nuzzled against Harry's stomach. The boy wrapped his arms around the dog's neck and buried his face in his fur.

"Thanks for coming for me, Sirius."

**End Chapter**

**Aww. Okay, next chapter deals with a diadam, a rat and a certain werewolf professor! I love Remus Lupin! He's one of my favorite characters and I'm excited to write him.**

**Read and Review please! Trouble gets updated next!**


End file.
